A vein popped on Lias's neck as he clenched his fists and—
-Slam!
Lias slammed his balled fist on the railing, and a vine covered the wound right after.
"Look at me, Malik. Listen to what I'm about to say." he said, holding no restraint.
Malik peered closely at him, unable to mouth words.
. . .
A moment. The cold breeze ensued further.
"In all the bad luck we've had, you've always been in the spotlight, and you know it. Just because you fix it doesn't mean you aren't the cause of it."
Malik made eye contact with him, and then he saw through him. Lias's body became translucent, like a glass sculpture. However, cracks formed on the glass the more he spoke.
"Do you have nothing else to say?" Lias badgered.
Zayne stood beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Dude, relax. We'll figure things out. Look at him, he's got a lot on his mind." he said.
"And why didn't you tell him to relax? What are you, scared of him or something?" Lias barked.
He slapped the hand off his shoulder. Zayne only sighed and walked away with his back facing them.
Lias continued to stare Malik down. His eyes were locked on his next movement.
"Lias." Malik muttered.
Lias tensed. "What. What could you possibly have left to say?"
"I apologize. I didn't know how angry you felt, brother." Malik responded.
Then, Lias stomped forward. "Really . . . is that all you have to say for yourself?"
He continued, "An 'I'm sorry' doesn't fix all that you've done in the years I've been here! I wanted to be kind to you, but people like you don't deserve such luxuries."
Lias's eyes began to squint, as if restraining himself. Immediately, he wiped off the look of resistance, maintaining his gruff expression.
Malik noticed it, but pretended to act as if only his words were facing him.
"I-I don't want things to end this way." Lias slurred his words.
All of a sudden, he looked at his hands. He noticed the expression of everyone else around him.
Brother. Brother. Am I being a good brother?
Then, the glass finally cracked. Scattered bits of it fell in all directions, but some of it stayed intact.
Lias came forward and gave a warm hug to Malik.
He straightened his voice. "I'm not being the brother you wanted me to be, Malik. I almost forgot the promise we made."
In a blink, Lias pulled away from the hug, as if it began to burn him. He kept his jagged expression on display.
"But just because you're my brother doesn't mean I can't tell you when you're wrong." Lias said.
Malik tilted his head. "I'm wrong?"
"I'm almost scared to admit it, Malik, but we're both wrong in some way. It doesn't matter who's wrong or right anymore, though. We're stuck out here going in one direction."
"Are you still mad at me, Lias?" Malik asked with a half-smile.
"Could you blame me if I was?" he responded.
. . .
From behind the commotion, Samir pretended to observe, but he formed a myriad of thoughts—most specifically at a word he tended to notice: scared.
He saw the sight of the brothers, and it reminded him of an image, a vision he couldn't quite get out of his head. He had seen it, and it led to an epiphany.
Scared. Sometimes the most terrifying things don't need a why. Sometimes, things are most haunting when you don't know who to be scared of.
-Whoosh.
Rushing, Samir ran toward the entrance of the corridor, past the rest of the spectating crew.
Kaya noticed his sudden burst of movement, but paid no attention to it. She instead tried to deduct the relationship between the brothers, using her dark eyes.
Then, at the brink of the bottom steps, he saw it. It shone golden, yet there was no light above to truly support it.
Am I scared of what's inside of it, or scared of who might see what's inside of it?
Meanwhile, the freezing breeze began to worsen—a cold so striking that ice would be expected to form all over.
"But could you blame me? It seems like you know something I don't, and it seems that way for everyone else too." Malik said flatly.
"I could say the same for you and the rest here." Lias commented.
In the midst of the cold, a heat far past the comfort of warmth began to grow.
Cooling it, Zayne spoke. "Both of you. Relax. Can't you see everyone else here is worried?"
Lias gulped. He saw the worried faces on everyone else—primarily Kaya, who carried something heavier behind her frown.
Breaking his long silence, Kamil uttered, "Now look, y'all. There's a lot of ways things could've ended up this way. But we all know there's only one true reason."
Zayne smiled. "I'd like to think whatever did all this decided to leave. A search isn't gonna reverse what happened."
"I think so too. I can't see a clear reason as to why one of us could've done such a thing in such a short time." Kaya said.
"But they made sure we couldn't tell how much time passed. It could've been hours, days, weeks—who knows?" Zayne mentioned.
Amaya placed her hands on her hips and adjusted her long white trench coat.
"It can't have been more than a few hours, unless we were fed whilst we were knocked out." she said.
"I mean, I did wake up with a full stomach." Zayne whispered.
Kaya intervened with a nervous smile. "But I was told that you always eat a lot."
"Wait, who told you that?" Zayne asked, dumbfounded.
Lias raised his hand. "That culprit is me. I woke up with my stomach empty, the exact same as when I remembered."
Zayne only laughed. "Do you think they got our bodies and helped us drop a—"
Whack!
"Not the time, Zayne." Amaya shook her hand. "Plus, I feel the exact same way as before the incident. It can't have been more than a few hours."
Kaya added, "But then, how can you explain the flood? A flood like that can't be that large and dull in just a few hours."
"Storm water is often dirty. And trust me, there is more than enough water to make a flood like that. In fact, I'd say we're lucky that this ship hasn't sunk under its own weight yet." Lias argued.
Kaya frowned. "If this is lucky, I wouldn't want to know what would be deemed unlucky."
Lias continued, "Unlucky is the fact that the reverse thrust and propulsion are missing in the hull."
"Missing? Don't those things weigh hundreds of pounds?" Amaya asked.
"Yeah. Methodically removed, too. The culprit wasn't being erratic—they were being careful." Lias answered.
From the silence, Malik finally chose to speak.
". . . But who's to say that there's only one culprit behind all this?"
When he spoke, the freezing breeze formed a haze around them—a cold fog that surrounded the ship, like it tried to hide something.
Lias clenched his fists. "If there were a culprit on this ship, why would they willingly stay on the very ship they sabotaged? Wouldn't that be counterintuitive?"
"It would be, but maybe they had a death wish." Zayne added.
"But that still wouldn't explain how they would've gotten on this ship in the far sea and gone into an elaborate plan, all for them to just have that kind of wish. If that were the case, wouldn't they do something simpler?" Amaya asked.
"We're heading into dead ends. Nothing we can do with questions piled on top of each other." Lias commented.
Kaya turned her head. "But wait, Malik. Weren't you the first one to wake up?" she asked innocently.
"I was. Then you woke up the rest." he replied.
"Wait, how'd you wake up before all of us, Malik?" Amaya inquired.
"A book collided with my head." he said calmly.
Kaya whispered to herself, "A book, you say . . ."
Lias raised attention to another question. "But say, Malik, how can you be so sure you were the first one awake?"
Malik looked away from Lias. His attention was focused on Kaya's dark eyes. He hoped they would stay that way.
"But there was only one person I didn't see . . ." he said lightly.
Lias's gaze widened. "And that is?"
Malik didn't speak. Kaya answered for him. ". . . Captain." she murmured.
Lias insisted, "Malik, are you sure this book you speak of was what woke you up?"
. . .
The breeze began to get louder, and the fog began to swirl like smoke all around them.
Suddenly, scurrying up the steps, the sound of delicate pages being flipped emanated.
Samir rose from the steps, holding it. The first to see it was Kaya.
"No!" Kaya roared. She pounced in front of him, acting like a barrier between them and the book.
At the same time, Lias badgered to Malik, "Are you sure Captain Cyrus couldn't have played a role in this? After all, nobody can survive 'drowning' for even a couple of minutes, let alone hours like we speculate."
Zayne mumbled, "That does kind of make sense."
"What! That's nonsense! He could've just fallen out of the holes in the main hall! The craters there are big enough for many people to fall, and it could've been any of us!" Amaya exclaimed.
Suddenly, Malik asserted, "There's no way for someone to just wake up at will after being unconscious! You just can't seem to accept that some things are going to remain unexplained!" His voice erupted.
"And what? You would like it to be unexplained because it would benefit you, no? You always spill some truth in your words when your father's involved, isn't that right? I mean, can you name anybody else capable of pulling something like that off?" Lias interjected.
Meanwhile, Kaya shouted from inside the hall near the entrance, "Nobody deserves to deal with what's in there! You don't know where it'll hurt if they see it—especially him!"
Lias scoffed. "Ha. Is your accomplice getting defensive of you now?"
Malik balled his fist. He saw his nails—they were long, way too long. Overlooking it, he brought his arm up, and—
Slam!
"Enough!" a commandeering voice barked.
Everyone turned around to see if they recognized that tone.
However, they were stunned to see that Kamil was the one to silence it.
"He's not here at a moment like this, so I'll take the role temporarily." Kamil uttered.
He continued, "I don't care who did it, why they did it, how they did it, or if this was something far greater than our imaginations. If our fighting is not helping this ship strive forward, then we are doing no less than helping the culprit."
Suddenly, the fog dissipated. Bright sunlight seeped through the hazy remnants of fog and revealed the day.
"We have taken many huge losses, but we haven't lost everything just yet. It is our duty to preserve whatever is left of us, no matter how little remains." Kamil affirmed.
Samir remained holding the book, and hung his head. Kaya moved out of the way and stared at Kamil. Lias, Zayne, Malik, and Amaya remained silent as they paid their attention to him as well.
But only one was missing.
As Kamil stood his ground, a large, unexpected silhouette appeared behind them. In front of the bright sun and the azure sky, something stood taller than both, consuming the light that once shone on the ship.
When they saw it, they each rubbed their eyes, as if it were something they had never seen before. All except Malik. He had recognized it and didn't care if it was real or not.
He was just glad it came to welcome him, for real this time.
And so was the burning bayonet in his pocket that grinned alongside him.
Suddenly, everyone shouted, "Land!!"